


90. Just a walk in the park

by jennandanica



Series: Citadel: Sam Worthington and Ryan Kwanten [90]
Category: Actor RPF, Australian Actor RPF, Citadel (Journalfen RPG), True Blood RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-03
Updated: 2008-11-03
Packaged: 2018-01-15 14:23:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1307998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennandanica/pseuds/jennandanica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Natalie is played by Jay Linden.</p>
    </blockquote>





	90. Just a walk in the park

**Author's Note:**

> Natalie is played by Jay Linden.

_**Natalie Portman and Sam Worthington. Just a walk in the park.** _  
[June 25, 2011. Will be backdated.]

[Takes place the day after Christina [sees Natalie off to London](http://www.journalfen.net/users/natalieportman/52243.html)]

It feels good to be back in London. It was--is--home for ages. It's the place where she and Christina became Natalie-and-Christina. And even though she was raised and lived in New York for most of her life, London owns a piece of her now.

Her appearance schedule for the days she's in London is idiotic. An evening appearance the previous night, followed by an early morning interview--and all before she'd even gotten close to touching her jetlag. Then nothing again until tomorrow noon, and one last morning press event the following day, before she gets on a plane and--hopefully--passes out.

The uneven schedule would have been annoying even if Christina'd been there, and not trapped in New York in meetings that apparently couldn't wait. But, in a making tequila shots out of lemons kind of way, Natalie's managed to fill the spare time. First, there's the whole furthering the fake boyfriend thing that she and Sam have planned for her time here. Second, there's the lunch and playtime she just had with James, which she's needed for longer than she cares to admit.

Which explains why she's sitting at a table outside one of her favorite cafes, reading and waiting for Sam... and wishing she was sitting on a cushion while she waits.

Sam has Joe drop him just down the street and walks to the cafe. He's managed to finagle an early end to the day, a request easily granted because of all the fucking crazy hours he's put in without complaint. He smiles the moment he spies Natalie, happy to see her again. "Hey," he says when he reaches her table.

"Hey!" Natalie says, looking up at him and smiling, setting her book down. "You're earlier than I expected," she says, standing up to greet him.

"I got away the second they let me," Sam says, wrapping his arms around Natalie's waist and pulling her in for a soft warm kiss. "You look amazing," he says, and it's true, she does. Really beautiful.

She manages not to flinch when he pulls her in, despite the marks across her back, but she can't help stiffening, even if it's just for a second, before she relaxes. "You look good, but tired," Natalie admits. "And like you need a day off or twelve."

"Definitely twelve," Sam says with a smile, noting the tension in her frame. There one moment and gone the next. "You okay?"

She bites her lip, then looks up at him and grins. "I'm actually _really_ okay," she says, something cheeky in her expression. "I had lunch with a friend," she adds, just a little too casually.

Fuck. Sam has a pretty good idea of what that means. "Yeah?" He grins and shakes his head. "Let me grab a coffee and you can tell me about your lunch. If you want."

"Take a look at the pastry section," Natalie suggests, sitting down again. Carefully. "It's a chocoholic's dream."

"You want anything?"

"Just a refill--I already ate," Natalie says, passing her mug back to him. "It's just regular coffee--and thank you," she adds, smiling.

Sam grabs Natalie's refill, a coffee for himself and a chocolate danish. The girl behind the counter recognizes him, which he supposes is good in a way, and asks him to sign a napkin to her and another to her best friend and one more for her mum. He obliges with a smile, noting she goes straight to one of the other workers the moment he heads back out, the two girls coming to the door behind him. "We're being watched," he says, softly, under his breath, setting Natalie's coffee down in front of her and trailing his hand over her shoulder with a smile before he sits down.

"That didn't take long," she murmurs. "They're used to seeing me... I used to come here all the time. You're a brand new shiny." And Natalie being here with a guy is something new too. It makes her head hurt a little, courting the attention, instead of avoiding it.

Sam laughs. "You were gonna tell me about your lunch," he says, confident the girls are far enough away they can't hear a thing.

"I was, wasn't I?" Natalie says. "I told you about my friend James Purefoy before. I haven't seen him since we went back to New York, and I've only talked to him on the phone since he agreed to... well. Help supply me and Christina with what we needed for our current endeavour," she says delicately.

"His husband isn't into BDSM at all, so we did each other a favour--he got to kick my ass, and I got to get my ass kicked," she says, grinning widely. "Fucking sadists."

"I'm going to get Ryan a t-shirt saying that," Sam remarks, grinning back. "Even if he can only wear it at Citadel."

"Always an appropriate sentiment," Natalie says, grinning back at him. "Especially if you're a sub with license to be cheeky, or a masochist and not a sub at all. I trust James, he knows me, he's in a committed relationship where some of his kinks don't line up with his partner's... it's a good arrangement for both of us," Natalie says, reaching for her coffee and biting back a groan. "Plus, he's really creative in an evil way, which brings me back again to my original statement--fucking sadists."

"Yeah?" Sam's grin widens. "Do I get to ask what kind of creatively evil?" Unwilling to push for details unless he knows Natalie's okay with that.

Natalie chose this cafe for a reason. It has good sight lines, so you can always see who's around you, good coffee, and plenty of space between the tables. It means that as long as their voices are quiet, they can talk about whatever they want, instead of faking that too.

"One of the hardest things about my job is getting the pain I crave, and being able to show up, unmarked, to work the next day. It's pretty rare that I've got the space in my schedule to get good and bruised up, and have the time to heal. James can give me the kind of pain I need, either without marking me up, or keeping the marks to less obvious places," she says. "Plus, I've learned a lot from him that I get to turn around and apply to Christina, so everyone wins," she adds, with a wicked smile.

Sam chuckles, taking a sip of his coffee. "I guess it's really different for women," he says. "If I go in all marked, there's a million plausible excuses and no one really thinks anything of it. Make-up just deals with it and with my kind of movies, half the time I'm helping them along. But with women, I guess the first thing people think is maybe your bloke's pushing you around."

"Exactly," Natalie says. "And costuming is different too, so it's hard to cover marks that way... it just leads to too many questions. So a lot of my favorite things don't appear on the menu all that often," she says, letting out a comically dramatic sigh. "Yes, it really is so difficult to be me."

Sam smiles. "And James is the only one you go to?"

"No... not the only one," Natalie says. "I see staff once in awhile, especially if James isn't available, and I've got maybe a couple other people I've played with before that I know I can trust. I don't go hunting anymore though... not really into picking up randoms. Too much trouble, too much work," she says, making a face.

"And I suppose it would be a really bad idea if I offered," Sam says, tearing apart his danish. "Even if you were interested, I suspect both Ryan and Christina might come after us." He grins.

"I suspect you're right about that," Natalie says. "I think we'll keep our hands and floggers to ourselves for the foreseeable future... give all of us some time, let some friendship and trust build up. How is Ryan handling all this?" Since they kind of landed on the topic.

"He's good. We've had a couple of weird spots lately, but nothing to do with this," he gestures between them. "More because I'm not really used to explaining myself to anyone and sometimes I don't do a very good job of it."

"That wouldn't help, no," Natalie agrees. "Some stereotypes exist for a reason, I suppose. No matter what century you're in, some guys aren't great at the talking about feelings-and-stuff thing. Or explanations."

"I have control issues," Sam says with a self-deprecating grin. "And privacy issues too. That's why this whole thing actually works for me. No one's getting to know anything except what we're putting out there."

"I'm still ticked that I'm having to say or do anything, even if it's all for show and all a lie, but it could be worse, and it's better than all the current alternatives," Natalie says, wrinkling her nose... and eyeing the last pieces of Sam's danish.

"Yeah," Sam agrees. "Want some?" He pushes the plate toward her.

"I was being really subtle, wasn't I?" Natalie says, laughing as she lifts a piece off his plate.

Sam grins. "You already warned me how you feel about chocolate."

"I have inappropriate feelings about chocolate," Natalie agrees, licking a bit off her pinky finger.

"That makes two of us," Sam says, although right now he's having pretty inappropriate feelings about that flick of Natalie's tongue. He rubs a hand over the back of his neck. "How'd the interview go?"

"Good," Natalie says. "Boring. A little nerve wracking, actually," she says.

"Did they ask about us?"

"Before we started... off the record," Natalie says. "I've done interviews with them before, and they know that I don't react well to being ambushed when cameras are rolling. I played coy, rather than shutting it down entirely, but I didn't give a solid answer. That's what we're going with right now, right?" she checks. It doesn't make sense, giving her and Sam's history of dealing with rumours about their private lives, to jump right into telling reporters everything they want to know. "But no... actually, the nerve wracking part was the fact that I'm not working on anything right now, and they asked."

Sam nods. Vague is good. And the fact they're even asking shows it's working. "What did you say? The usual reading through scripts?"

"Pretty much," Natalie says. "I have a project that I thought I'd be working on by now, but it's taking them longer than they thought to get things organized," she says. "Which means my publicist keeps sending me on these 'promote Natalie' tours, until I've got something actual to promote."

Sam nods. "I never asked," he says. "How's Christina doing with all of this?"

"She's resigned to it," Natalie says. "I hate that I can't make it instantly all better. I'm a fixer, by nature, and there's really nothing I can do to make everything all better. Just because you know that what you're feeling is irrational doesn't make it instantly go away."

"Yeah," Sam nods. He knows about all about that with his OCD. "Logic versus tiny little voice in the back of your mind."

"I think it's going to be a long time before we can make the tiny little voice go quiet," Natalie says with a sigh. "So... I stop trying to make everything automatically sunshine and roses, we keep going forward, and if everything keeps going the way it is, eventually everything will be better on its own, instead of me trying to make it better."

"Definitely," Sam says. "Although I do find fucking Ryan right through the mattress whenever another article comes out helps," he adds with a grin.

Natalie snorts, loudly. "That is one way to go about it, yes," she agrees. "Cheating, but effective."

Sam laughs. "How's that cheating?"

"Using sex for trickery and distraction? Definitely not playing fair," she teases.

"I thought I was using it for reassurance," Sam says with another laugh.

"I suppose that's a fair point too," Natalie agrees, still laughing. "But don't even try and tell me that distraction isn't part of it."

"Maybe a little." Sam grins. "Hey, do you want to get out of here? Maybe take a walk through the park?"

"And now you're distracting me... but it's a good idea, so I don't mind," Natalie says. She's invested some serious time lately into finding shoes that were both comfortable to walk in, and gave her some more height, so she didn't look quite so ridiculous standing next to Sam. She isn't sure it's working, but it's worth a try.

"Okay, give me a second," Sam says, running their mugs and plate back inside. He returns, smiles at Natalie and takes her hand, linking their fingers. "You okay with this?" he asks, out of the corner of his mouth.

"I'm okay," Natalie murmurs back just as softly, settling her purse on her shoulder and moving to stand next to Sam. And she is... but there's something hard about it too. It's such an easy, simple thing, walking hand in hand, and neither of them can do it with the person they love.

"So, other than the fact you lived here with Christina," Sam says as they start to walk, "tell me what you love about London. First ten things that come to mind."

"The shopping," Natalie says immediately, starting a mental count. "Also the shoe shopping, which gets its own heading, because it deserves it. I love the culture--the vibe of the city itself. The museums, the art, the bed in our flat. The club--London's my favorite--and a house dom who works there named Steve. The live theater, and..." she frowns, adding quickly in her head and coming up with nine. "Did I mention the shoe shopping? I totally did, so... okay..." she trails off, then grins. "A very memorable table at the club which got well and truly used one night. I think we should have gotten to put a plaque up beside it after that evening."

"So three out of ten have to do with the club," Sam says with a laugh, grinning back. "I like the way you think."

"My list for New York would probably be similarly skewed," Natalie admits. "And my list for LA would be even more heavily leaned toward the club, because of the three cities, it's really not my favorite," she says.

"I know how you feel but maybe we can change that a little. Living on the beach makes it seem like an entirely different place."

"Maybe," Natalie says. "Is there much of a breeze coming off the ocean? It's the baking heat that wears me out. Not that it doesn't get hot in New York, but you don't spend the same kind of time outside in a New York summer as you would in LA."

"Gorgeous breezes. We have a whole wall of screened windows facing the water, and three decks, all of which get shade at different times of the day." Sam sighs softly. He's never really felt homesick before.

"See... I would have expected that kind of tone in your voice over somewhere in Australia, but you really love it in LA. Don't you," she says, smiling. "I miss the place Christina and I have here in London."

Sam nods. "Australia's home but I never really had a _home_ there. My parents kind of kicked me out when I was seventeen and I was always crashing with my various mates after that so..." he shrugs a little.

"Okay, that makes sense," Natalie agrees. "So this is the first time that you had someplace that really feels like it belongs to you, and it's home. My first place like that was university housing... they don't really let you stay there permanently," she says wryly.

Sam laughs. "Yeah. But you liked it there?"

"To an admittedly insane extent," Natalie says, grinning at Sam. "I strongly considered giving acting up to keep going to school."

"What made you stick with the acting?" Sam asks, rubbing his thumb over her fingers, wishing he could do this with Ryan.

"Well... for one thing, after doing _Star Wars_ and getting that kind of worldwide instant recognition, it would have been pretty hard to have any kind of normal life," Natalie admits. "But if I'd really wanted to do it at that point, I would have. It is partly because of _Star Wars_ though," she says.

"Once you've done something like that, you're pretty set, financially. So it's no longer remotely about the money. I started being even more particular than I was before about what roles I chose--doing smaller projects, looking for characters that really interested me, or people I really wanted to work with. And I found the real love for the job that I'd been looking for. I still think about doing my Masters sometimes, and maybe someday I will, but I think I made the right choice."

Sam nods. "It sounds like it," he says softly. "I don't know what I'd do if I wasn't acting. It's not like being a brickie's something you go back to and I can't imagine not working at all."

"Neither can I," Natalie says. "I'm actually twitchy right now, being between projects. I've been working since I was a kid, so I don't think I know how not to work," she admits. She looks up, then bumps his arm with her shoulder (he's _tall_ , she can't reach higher), and smiles. "I don't think you're gonna have to worry about going back to the bricks, Sam."

"Thanks," Sam says with a smile. He glances around the park, noticing a couple of people taking pictures of them. "Where did you want to have dinner? Back at your hotel?"

"That works," Natalie says, nodding. "Then you can just, oh, decide to stay the night," she adds, grinning at him.

"Of course. Completely spontaneous," Sam says, unable to keep from laughing.

Which gets Natalie laughing too. "Well, why else would I have lured you back to my hotel for dinner?" she teases.

"Temptress," Sam says, biting back a grin.

"Not according to my press," Natalie says, in her very best innocent voice. "Maybe that will change...."

"I'm gonna give you a bad reputation," Sam teases, eyes sparkling.

"Isn't that the point?" Natalie shoots back. "You make me look all naughty, and I make you look domestic and whipped?"

Sam grins. "Well, yeah, now that you put it that way..."

"Exactly," Natalie says. "I make you respectable, and in exchange, I get to be the girl walking on the wild side," she says, still grinning.

"Hey. I don't remember signing on for respectable," Sam murmurs, keeping his voice quiet as they pass a bench with an older couple watching them. "Whipped, yeah, but respectable?"

"Hey, I can't help it if I spread innocence and fairy dust everywhere I go," Natalie says. "Just a by-product of being seen with me... everyone's going to start saying what a good boy you are." She's practically smirking now--especially when she gets to the 'good boy' part.

Sam gives her a look. "Wench."

She flutters her lashes. "Choir boy."

Sam laughs. "So, are those comfortable enough to walk all the way back to your hotel?" he asks, nodding at her shoes. "Or should we grab the subway or a taxi?"

"I've started hunting down shoes that have heels, and I can walk comfortably," Natalie says, giving Sam a (mostly) feigned Look. "Something about you makes you look unfairly tall."

"My mates say it's my posture," Sam says, rolling his eyes. "Could be the boots." Although really, there's virtually no heel on them.

"Maybe.. it still isn't fair," Natalie says. "I keep getting cast opposite insanely tall men too," she says. "I mean, honestly. No one needs to be as tall as Eric Bana and Chris Hemsworth. It's just being greedy."

Sam laughs. "That's true. Alex Skarsgard too. You know him? They're all, what, 6'4" or so?"

"I haven't exactly worked with him--we were both in Zoolander, but that doesn't count--but I know him. He's stupidly tall. Over a foot higher than me," Natalie says. "My ex and his former boy were both over 6'2''."

"Yeah. I'm only tall in relation to you," Sam teases. "And what's Christina?"

Natalie grins. "Perfect," she says, even though he knows that isn't what he was asking. "Actually, we're almost the same height," she adds, after the fact. "And the same shoe size. It works out well for us."

"Yeah," Sam grins. "It's funny how guys don't really do that. Ryan and I are pretty much the same size but we don't go borrowing each other's clothes or shoes."

"It is funny," Natalie says. "And maybe it really is a girl thing--for some girls--because when I was with the guys, I certainly wasn't borrowing shoes, but I pillaged shirts and sweaters like crazy."

Sam chuckles. "You're welcome to go through my wardrobe just as long as you leave my t-shirts alone."

"I wouldn't dare," Natalie says solemnly, eyes sparkling to counter it. "We can save that for much later on... stage something to really convince your friends," she teases. "They'll know it's serious, and that you've completely lost it at that point."

"I never thought of it that way," Sam says, shaking his head at himself. But she's right. That really would convince his mates.

"Oh, yeah," Natalie says. "I'm pretty sure that wearing the sacred t-shirt is one of those relationship stages right before moving in together or engagement."

"Okay, so it's a _long_ way off," Sam says with a smile. Secretly strangely relieved.

"Exactly," Natalie says. "Your shirts are safe. You've probably even got time to hit up eBay, and find yourself some duplicates so you can pull a switch, and no one will be the wiser."

If Natalie secretly thinks that Sam's t-shirt possessiveness is adorably ridiculous? She's hiding it well.

Sam grins. "I'll buy doubles from now on."

"Good plan," Natalie says, laughing again. "So guys really don't do that, huh? If Ryan answered the door in one of your shirts, that wouldn't catch your attention?"

"No," Sam shakes his head. "I'd be wondering if we didn't get the laundry done or something." He laughs. "Now, if he answers the door naked, _that_ gets my attention."

"Well, I'd hope so!" Natalie says. "Otherwise, I'd be worried," she teases. "So, yeah... my theory is that this doesn't really work when it's guys with guys. Although... if Christina wears one of my shirts, it definitely gets my attention." The difference between their cup sizes makes that one pretty obvious.

"Yeah, I don't know. It's definitely not the same for guys," Sam says. "But I know what you mean with women, so maybe it would work if it's a guy with a smaller guy." He shrugs. He finds Ryan hot no matter what he wears.

"Maybe," Natalie says. "Too many factors for a general statement by gender, apparently. And you're probably right about Ryan looking better naked," she adds, grinning wickedly. They're going to be inside a crowded hotel restaurant soon... she's taking advantage of being able to talk about whatever she wants while she can.

"He has seriously got the most fucking perfect body I've ever seen in my life," Sam murmurs, grinning. "Don't tell him I said that though. His head'll explode," he jokes.

"From embarrassment, or ego?" Natalie shoots back. "Your secret's safe. And seriously... sometimes with Christina, I catch myself staring like it's the first time I've ever seen her like that. Can't help it. Don't want to."

"Yeah." Sam smiles. "It's funny they're both so worried when we spend most of our dates talking about them."

"It is," Natalie agrees. "Both funny, and not-funny-funny. We wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for them. But... you know... it's nice," she admits. "Being able to talk about her, to someone who gets it... someone I can tell the truth to. Even as we're walking around, hand in hand, lying our asses off to everyone who can see us," she adds.

Sam nods. "My parents are the only ones who know about Ryan. Well, of people I'm close to," he quickly corrects, since Alex and a few others know about him too. "But they just finally wrapped their heads around the fact I'm with a guy and I think my dad would rather not talk about it for the most part."

"I'm lucky in that I've got a couple of good friends who know--there's James, of course, and Paul, and I can talk to them," she says. "But that's a handful of people out of my entire world. Finding people you don't have to censor yourself with... I think it helps. That's just me though," she says, shrugging and looking a bit shy. "Sorry. I talk too much, I know," she apologises.

"No, you don't," Sam says simply. "And you're right. It's nice not having to censor yourself."

"Especially since we have to spend so much time doing it," Natalie says. "Especially now, with this whole..." she trails off, swinging their hands together by way of an answer.

"Yeah." Sam nods. They're pretty close to Natalie's hotel. "Are you hungry yet? Or should we do a little window shopping?"

Natalie does a quick mental check in. She's sore, sure, but in a good way. She can keep going. "Let's go a little farther, then turn back," she says. "Might as well give people something to write about."

"Like this?" Sam smiles and brings their joined hands to his mouth, brushing his lips across her knuckles.

Natalie laughs, bumping her hip against his thigh. "Something like that, yes," she says, smiling too.

Sam grins and then nods towards the stores. "Hey, look, your favourite," he says, gesturing at the window full of shoes.

She perks up almost immediately--yes, she really is that easy--and checks out the display in the window. "I might have to come back here tomorrow... those are really nice," she says, pointing to a pair of red, strappy heels. "One of these days, I'm going to end up needing a separate room, just for shoes."

"Why don't we go in now?" Sam suggests. "You should try them on."

"You don't mind?" Natalie says. "Are we at the you watching me try on shoes part of our relationship?" she teases.

"I don't mind at all," Sam says. "And actually, I think we're at the you letting me buy them for you if you like them part of the relationship."

"I think I'm going to like this relationship stage much better than the shirt stealing stage," Natalie says, taking a firmer grip on his hand and heading straight into the store.

People move quickly when she comes inside. It's possible she's been in here before... maybe a few times.

"You should try on a couple pairs," Sam says, noticing the salesclerks start to group and whisper. "If you see anything else you like."

Natalie flashes a smile at him, squeezes his hand, then lets go as she starts scanning the store for anything likely. Drag him into a shoe store, yes. Literally drag him from shoe to shoe? That's a bit much.

Sam follows Natalie casually around the store, standing back a little and nodding to the gathered salesclerks.

She shops quickly--she has a pretty good idea what she likes, and what will and won't work for her by now. There are a couple of pairs of 'fuck me' boots she's got her eye on, for Christina, but she can come back for those later. She's already pointed out three pairs for the salesclerks to grab in her size, hesitating in front of a pair of black heels. "What do you think?" she asks Sam, gesturing at them, taking his hand with her free one. "Classic, or boring?"

"Definitely not boring," Sam says with a smile. Not on Natalie. "Try them on."

"These too, please," Natalie says, smiling warmly at the salesclerk who's hovering closest. They've brought out the other pairs, so she releases Sam again, going over to start trying them on.

She's probably done smarter things in her life than shoe shopping a few hours after "lunch" with James, but, well. She is a masochist, after all.

The first pair don't last longer than ten seconds on her feet. "Pretty, but evil," she announces.

Sam laughs. "I take it that means they'd do nasty things to your feet?"

"Very nasty," Natalie says, although she can't help a bit of a wistful look at them as they're packed back in the box. "So pretty, but just no." She has better luck with the red pair from the window, walking from one end to the store and back to test them out. "I've always thought shoe stores should have a runway to walk," she calls over.

"Runaway or no, those look great on you," Sam says with an appropriately respectful leer.

"Thank you," Natalie says, doing another pass from end to end of the store, putting on a bit of a hip shimmy for show. "I think these are a yes."

"Good choice," Sam says, then grins at the salesclerk.

The salesclerk smiles back, even if she looks a bit flustered. She recovers quickly, coming to retrieve the shoes and take them up to the counter.

Of the two pairs Natalie has left, the first one barely even makes it onto her foot before she's shaking her head and has it off again. The black heels though... they're promising. She actually feels tall with them on. "So... what do you think?" she asks Sam, going back to her metaphorical runway and model walking again, grinning at him.

"Gorgeous," Sam answers truthfully. No show here. "They make your legs look even longer."

That doesn't take much considering how short Natalie is, but she'll take the compliment anyway. "So which ones? Red or black?"

"Get them both," Sam says with a smile. "My treat."

Natalie's smile can light up a room when she wants it to, and she figures now is as good a time as any to use that particular skill.

"Really?" She comes back over to him and goes up on her toes to kiss him. "You're so sweet," she murmurs. She can hear the whispering, so she assumes that's a good thing.

She just hopes that Sam has some concept of the cost of designer women's shoes, or she might end up having to revive him from a dead faint or cardiac episode.

"So are you," Sam murmurs, snagging another kiss, his hands on Natalie's hips for a moment before he lets her go. He waits for the salesclerk to collect the black shoes and then follows her up to the cash, handing his credit card over and barely blinking when she announces the total, despite the fact that it's roughly half what he paid for Ryan's bike from Harrod's.

Natalie leans in against Sam at the counter, not sure whether to compliment his ability to remain unfazed in the face of the price of footwear, or his secret knowledge of women's fashions.

"I might just have to wear those tonight at dinner," she murmurs, perfectly audible to anyone around them. "I should change first anyway." A costume change at this point in the day is probably appropriate. God forbid she go to dinner in the same clothes she wore to coffee.

"Into what?" Sam smiles and leans closer. "I think you look beautiful."

"And you're still sweet," she murmurs, tucking in against him. "You'll see, and then you can tell me if it was worth it. And I can wear my new shoes."

"Are you sure I look fit to be seen with you?" Sam teases, tempted to kiss her again but everyone's standing _right there_ and it's just a little too much.

So Natalie does the next best thing. She sticks just the very tip of her tongue out at him. "You look perfect," she tells him. "Very Sam."

Sam grins and kisses her anyway. Playing to the masses. "And I'm the sweet one?"

"Yes," she says, grinning up at him. "You are." And she's pretty sure she just heard a cell phone camera snap, and for once, she's ignoring it... at least outwardly. "Are you hungry yet?"

"Starving," Sam says, taking the bags from the salesclerk. "Are you going to kick me if I order a steak the size of my head?"

"No," Natalie says, reaching for his hand once he's got the bags collected up. "No promises not to make you brush your teeth though."

"I wouldn't dream of trying to kiss you with steak breath," Sam assures her, eyes sparkling.

"That's because you're a smart man," Natalie says with a laugh. "Ten minutes for me to get changed, and you can order the biggest steak on the menu if you want."

*

True to her word, Natalie _does_ only take ten minutes and Sam _does_ get the biggest steak on the menu. He orders it medium-rare, still dripping with blood, and she doesn't blink an eye, something he really likes in a woman. They talk more about Christina and Ryan and work and shoes and it's not very hard at all to fake being together. Sam pays the bill and leaves a generous tip, the both of them agreeing to sign autographs for their waiter's family, since he graciously waits to the very end of the meal to ask.

"Nice bloke," Sam says, standing and offering Natalie his arm. "I wish everyone was like that."

"Me too," Natalie says, taking Sam's arm, and leaning in nice and close. "I don't mind, as long as I'm not being harassed or bullied or interrupted in the bathroom or something like that," she says. "So... tired yet?" she asks, her expression just to the left of wicked.

"Not even close, but I could definitely go for a nightcap," Sam says, nodding goodnight to the hostess at the front of the restaurant.

"I think I might have something upstairs that would do nicely, unless you wanted to go to the bar," Natalie says, giving the hostess a smile and wave of her own.

"I would love to go upstairs," Sam says, eyes on Natalie's mouth, like he's just barely holding back from kissing her.

She looks up at him, eyes sparkling as she bites at her lip, then smiles. "I was really hoping you'd say that," she murmurs.

There's a small group already gathered at the elevators and they end up slipping on last. Sam keeps Natalie close, well aware of the poking and prodding going on behind them and a click or two of cellphones -- people thinking they're being discreet. Luckily their floor comes first and the doors close behind them without anyone following them off. "Guess we can count on this making the rounds, even if it's not official," he murmurs.

"I'm just glad I'm not in the habit of doing a Google image search for myself," she murmurs back. "Cell phone images are never the most flattering."

Sam laughs. "That's true but since you look radiantly gorgeous, I assume cellphone pics would just bring you down to the level of us mere mortals," he says with a smile.

Which makes Natalie laugh too. "Right... because you're a mere mortal, Mr. Worthington," she says, bumping his hip. "I know you have access to mirrors, so I know you know better."

Sam ducks his a head a little, grinning. "You should come to Australia. There's an awful lot of guys who look like me."

"Oh, I've been to Australia," Natalie assures him. "I filmed two of the Star Wars movies in Sydney. I met plenty of Australian guys, believe me," she adds, grinning widely.

"And they're all as gorgeous as me, right?"

"That only proves that Australia's population of gorgeous men is higher than the world-wide average," Natalie says. "You're an elevated class of men from the start. And," she adds, leaning in, because someone's walking past them, "you've got them beat."

 _Except for Ryan_ , Sam thinks, but doesn't say it. They're supposed to be into each other, not talking about his "best mate," so he grins instead and ducks his head again. "Thanks."

"You look almost shy... I wonder if I could get you to blush," Natalie murmurs, looking more than slightly wicked.

"You probably could, but you shouldn't," Sam says, grinning. They stop in front of Natalie's room. "This is you, yeah?"

"No promises," Natalie says. Now she's curious about blushing Sam. She may have to enlist Ryan's help there. "This is me," she says. "And you too," she adds, sliding her key card out of her purse and opening the door, flashing a smile at him before she heads inside the room.

Sam follows Natalie inside, the door locked firmly behind them. "No promises? Does that mean I'd better be on my toes?"

"I'm just saying... I think it'd be very interesting to see you blush," Natalie says over her shoulder, kicking off her shoes with a groan. "I was just thinking that I should enlist Ryan in my evil plans."

"He knows better," Sam says, but really, he's not so sure. "Besides, why would you want to make me blush?"

"It's like trying to get one of the Queen's guards to smile," Natalie teases. "An irresistible temptation."

Sam laughs. "I suppose I can see that," he murmurs, eyes crinkling at their corners. "So, I guess it's time to say goodnight?"

"I think it is," Natalie says, gesturing to the door that leads to the adjoining suite. "Your prince awaits."

"And your princess awaits her call," Sam says, kissing Natalie on the cheek. "Have a good sleep. We'll see you tomorrow night at our place."

"I'm gonna call her from a bubble bath," Natalie grins. "I'll see you tomorrow. Tell Ryan not to go to any fuss."

Sam laughs. "You try telling Ryan not to go to any fuss. He follows most orders, but that's not one of them," he says, turning to knock at the adjoining door and smiling brilliantly when Ryan opens up. "Hey..." he murmurs, slipping through and closing the door behind him.

Natalie watches the door close, unable to keep from grinning. "Better hope the room's soundproof," she murmurs, heading straight for the bathroom, shedding clothes on the way there.  



End file.
